Santa Monica-based venture capital firm Anthem Ventures is the lead investor in an avatar-focused, social networking site called Meez. Meez, which is based in San Francisco, said today that it has raised a financing round from Anthem. Anthem's Brian Mesic has been added to the firm's board as part of the funding. Amount and details of the funding were not disclosed. The deal also included the merger of Meez with another avatar firm called Pulse Entertainment. ...Tags:

Santa Monica-based Anthem Ventures , the venture capital firm run by Bill Woodward, has scored an exit with portfolio firm Siperian , as Informatica said last week that it would buy the maker of data integration software for $130M in cash. Anthem Ventures was the original investor in Siperian, which was also one of Anthem's first investments, out of its Anthem Venture Partners I fund. Samit Varma at Anthem represented the firm as on Siperian's board of directors. ...Tags: Tags: anthem ventures venture capital siperian merger acquisitio

Two Los Angeles-based venture firms, DFJ Frontier and Anthem Venture Partners , have invested in a Portland software firm developing online identification and single-sign in software. Anthem Ventures and RPM Ventures also participated, with Cremin, Anthem's Samit Varma, and RPM's Tony Grover all joining the company's board along with the funding. Tags: software janrain portland capital According to Portland's JanRain , it raised $3.25M in a Series A round led by DFJ Frontier's David Cremin. JanRain's software allows for single sign onto web sites, including using OpenID

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Santa Monica-based Zag , which has developed an automobile configuration and buying service for affinity organizations like credit unions and automobile organizations, has a funding round of undisclosed size. Apparently, the company was a victim of TechCrunch's Arrington's crusade against PR embargoes, and disclosed the funding based on preliminary discussions with the firm. A spokesperson for Zag told socalTECH that a round had closed, but would not confirm the investors or details of the round, saying that earlier disclosures by TechCrunch were incorrect.

Los Angeles-based AdventureLink , which operates an online booking system for adventure travel, announced today that it has raised a Series A funding for the firm. The funding came from Anthem Venture Partners and The Mail Room Fund. Tags: travel adventurelink mailroom venture capital adventure fun Amount of the investment was not disclosed. According to AdventureLink, its online booking system allows travel agents to book adventure travel opportunities in 164 countries.

in a funding round. Apparently, the company was a victim of TechCrunch's Arrington's crusade against PR embargoes, and disclosed the funding based on an embargoed draft. Zag is venture backed by Anthem Ventures, Arcturus Capital, Capital One, Capricorn Management, GRP Partners, and the Tech Coast Angels, along with USAA. Tags: automobile auto venture funding capita Santa Monica-based Zag , which has developed an automobile configuration and buying service for affinity organizations like credit unions and automobile organizations, has raised around $32.4M A

Santa Monica-based ThisNext announced this morning that it has acquired fashion and beauty site Stylehive , and raised a Series C round of funding. The firm did not disclose amount of the funding, however, a regulatory filing by the firm last week indicated the funding round was worth $1.2M. ThisNext said the Series C funding round came from Clearstone Venture Partners, Anthem Venture Partners, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. As part of the acquisition and funding, ThisNext said it has created a new parent company, Curatemedia , to operate both Thisnext and Stylehive.

funding round, according to a regulatory filing. Names of new investors in the firm were not disclosed, however, the firm has previously raised funding from companies such as Anthem Ventures, Digital Power Capital, Oak Investment Partners, Titan Corp., The filing listed Anthem Ventures' William Woodward as a current member of the firm's board. ...Tags: San Dimas-based Wavestream , a developer of solid state, RF (radio frequency) amplifiers, has raised $7.0M of an $8.0M

in venture funding, according to a regulatory filing from the firm Thursday. No details on the funding have been announced by the firm, however, the filing indicates that Clearstone Ventures Suman Mandal and Anthem Ventures' Bill Woodward remain on the company's board. The funding brings the company's total raised to around $9.7M Santa Monica-based ThisNext , which operates an online social shopping site and community, has raised another $1.2M in funding.